Chapter 4 - Language PDF

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Dr. Karen Smiley-Robinson Fall 2018...

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Anthropology 101

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Chapter 4: Language What is language and where does it come from? -

Language: a system of communication that uses symbols (words, sounds, and gestures) organized according to certain rules, to convey any kind of information o Call System: all animals communicate in some fashion, relying this system of sounds and gestures that are prompted by environmental stimuli § Examples: • Ants share information through chemical trails and pheromones • Bees dance to communicate distance and direction to flower petals and nectar • Dogs growl or bark to express hostility or warning • Dolphins produce complicated vocal signals • Whales Sing § Not a form of symbolic language as humans use it

Origins of Human Language -

Primatologists instigated language use and communication among our primate relatives Their language reflects… o Productivity: meaning that they can use known words to incent new word combinations o Displacement: the ability to use words to refer to objects not immediately present or events happening in the past or futures

Descriptive Linguistics -

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Language is a system of symbols and otherwise meaning less sounds and marks and gestures that are made meaningful by a group of people through the collective history and tradition of their culture Descriptive Linguistics: the study of the construction of those sounds, their meanings, and their combination into forms that communicate meaning o Linguistic Anthropologists focus on describing language as it is used and not on prescribing how people should use it o Example: Task might be to learn that oral language and to create a system for representing it in writing Phenomes: the smallest units of sound that can make a difference in meaning o Have no meaning on their own o Ex: b and p sounds o Phonology: the study of what sounds exists, and which ones are important in a particular language Morphemes: smallest units of sound that carry meaning on their own o Example: Cow or Horse o Morphology: study of the patterns and rules of how sounds combine to make morphemes Syntax: specific patterns and rules, used to combine morphemes to form phrases and sentences

Anthropology 101 -

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Grammar: encompasses the combined set of observations about the rules governing the formation of morphemes and syntax that guide language use

Nonverbal Communication: Kinesics and Paralanguage -

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Kinesics: the study of the relationship between body movements and communication o Explores all the facial expressions, gestures, and postures that convey messages with or without words Paralanguage: an extensive set of noises (laughs, cries, sighs, yells) and tones of voice that convey significant information about the speaker

How does language shape our ways of thinking? Language, Thought, and Culture -

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: different languages create different ways of thinking o Proposes that languages establish certain mental categories, or classifications of reality, almost like a grammar for organizing the worldview that shapes peoples’ ways of perceiving the world

The Role of Focal Vocabulary -

Lexicon: all the words for names, ideas, and events that make up a language’s dictionary Focal Vocabulary: words and terminology that develop with particular sophistication to describe the unique cultural realities experienced by a group of people.

How do systems of power intersect with language and communication? -

Sociolinguistics: The study of the ways culture shapes language and language shapes culture, particular the intersection of language with cultural categories and systems of power such as age, race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, and class

Language and Gender -

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Difference Model o Tannen suggests that conversations between men and women are basically a form of cross-cultural communication § Between ages of 5 and 15, boys and girl group up in different linguistic worlds Dominance Model: o Cultures of communication learned by boys and girls intertwine with gender dynamics throughout the larger culture o If Gender stratification and hierarchy are prevalent in the larger culture, and if men are generally in positions of superiority, then language will reflect men’s dominance and may play a key role in enabling it

Language and Dialect -

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Dialect: nonstandard variation of a language o Prestige Language: A particular language variation or way of speaking that is associated with wealth, success, education, and power Bourdieu notes that linguistic standards are established and reinforced by a culture’s educational institutions, government, media, and religious organizations.

Anthropology 101 -

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Other language variations are then judged against the norm of the prestige language, and their speakers—often said to be speaking a dialect—are associated with inferior positions within the culture

Language Variation in the United States -

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Language and Class Stratification o Language is often used as an indicator of social class o Language variation in the US that does not conform to the national prestige norm often has negative implication Code Switching: switching back and forth between one linguistic variant and another depending on the cultural context

Historical Linguistics -

Historical Linguistics: The study of the development of language over time, including its changes and variations Language Continuum: the idea that variation in languages that appears gradually over distance so that groups of people who live near one another speak in a way that is mutually intelligible

What are the effects of globalization on language? Diminishing Language Diversity -

The current pattern of increasing global interconnection threatens to diminish language diversity worldwide The more prominent languages- including the former colonial languages and other reginal or national languages- dominate global media, including television, radio, print, and digital media o Through this dominance they are crowding out the less widely used languages and their speakers

Hastening Language Loss -

Language Loss: the extinction of languages that have very few speakers Language Revitalization o Most languages have never been written down o Some groups are taking efforts to preserve them in written form o Documenting a local language may involve years of work in process that draws on all the basic skills of fieldwork and descriptive linguistics o Ethnologies: a widely used compendium of all the world’s languages, contains 7,097 languages

How is the digital age changing the way people communicate? -

Digital Natives: A generation of people born after 1980 who have been raised in the digital age o Digital Immigrants: refer to a slightly older generation who use the technology and platforms of the digital age but have had to learn them as if immigrating into a new culture or learning a second language

Anthropology 101 -

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Digital Activism: o Activities such as these are unique to the digital age and will surely continue as individuals and groups use social media and other electronic networks to communicate their shared experiences and objectives. The Digital Divide o Despite the rapid expansion of digital communication over the last several decades, a vast digital divide separates the world into digital haves and have-nots o The digital divide today is marked by vast discrepancies to access and connectivity § Represents the tendency of globalization to increase uneven development

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